ABOUT CIRCLE GREEN

Circle Green Community Legal is a community legal centre providing workplace, humanitarian, tenancy and family and domestic violence legal advice, further assistance, representation, advocacy, community legal education, referrals, outreach, and support.

Circle Green Community Legal services include a state-wide telephone service, face to face client interviews, casework, clinics and outreach legal advice, education sessions, legal resources, law reform submissions, and collaborative partnerships with legal and non-legal organisations.

The Project

Circle Green Community Legal is the lead agency delivering the Workplace Respect Project (the Project). The Project is focussed on the provision of legal assistance services for people experiencing workplace sexual harassment or discrimination in Western Australia.

The Workplace Respect Project is funded by the Australian Government and is a response to the national Respect@Work Inquiry.

The key components of the Project are:

Identifying legal need:

Undertaking research to better understand the prevalence and nature of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination in Western Australia, including priority cohorts and locations to inform our service delivery.

Providing legal assistance services:

Ensuring that WA workers who face disadvantage and have experienced sexual harassment and/or discrimination at work have access to legal advice and where appropriate and capacity permits, casework and representation, so that they can make informed decisions about their matters and their lives.

Developing responsive intake pathways:

Ensuring people experiencing workplace sexual harassment and/or discrimination can efficiently access an entry point or receive a timely referral.

Developing pro-bono resources:

Collaborating with the private sector and other key stakeholders to develop a network of pro bono lawyers with relevant expertise who could work with legal assistance providers to deliver aspects of the Project.

Developing and providing community legal education:

Collaborating with a wide-cross section of stakeholders to develop a range of community legal education resources and activities to build individual and community resilience by enhancing awareness and understanding about the law and legal supports.

Developing and delivering training for the sector:

Capacity building the legal assistance sector in workplace sexual harassment and discrimination law.

About the role

At Circle Green, we believe that the voices and views of people who have personal experiences of workplace sexual harassment are vital in shaping our work.

We are looking for 8-12 people with lived experience, to form a Lived Experience Advisory Panel. The purpose of this group is to help us ensure that the voices of those with lived experience informs the Workplace Respect Project.

The LEAP will be responsible for:

• Helping Circle Green to capture the views, experiences and opinions of people with lived experience of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.
• Providing feedback on the design and development of our services (i.e. legal assistance models, training, community legal education resources, etc).
• Guiding Circle Green on how best to engage and hear the voices of other people with lived experience.
• With appropriate support and acknowledgement from the Circle Green, and on a voluntary basis, to act as advocates to influence relevant law and policy development from a rights-based, lived experience perspective.

What’s involved?

The role is mainly focussed on attending and participating in LEAP meetings:

• We anticipate that LEAP meetings will take place every 2 – 3 months via online video call and will last up to 2 hours. However, frequency, format and duration of the meetings will be discussed and agreed with the LEAP in the first meeting and reviewed with the group over time.
• There will be between 8 and 12 LEAP members attending the meetings. Meetings will be facilitated by the Workplace Respect Project Manager and other Circle Green staff may be in attendance.
• During each meeting we will be asking for your comments, feedback and perspectives on key decisions about the development and content of the Project components.
• We will send you information in advance of each meeting, so you have time to think before the discussion.
• We will occasionally send you information and ask for your thoughts and feedback via email outside of the main LEAP meetings.

We may also offer you opportunities to be involved of sub-group meetings, or activities outside of the LEAP meetings.

Who are we looking for?

To be on the LEAP, you must have personal lived experience of workplace sexual harassment.

We are keen for the LEAP to include people who have a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds, and are particularly keen to hear from people who belong to a marginalised group (i.e. people who are LGBTIQ, Aboriginal people, people with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse people, women, etc).

We are enthusiastic about the LEAP including people from a range of age groups, gender, and different geographical areas across Western Australia.

We are also keen for the LEAP to include a mixture of people who have used Circle Green (or other legal assistance services) and people who have not, including those who may have previously been reluctant to use legal assistance services or other supports.

We will be considering the diversity of the overall group during our selection process, alongside skills and experiences.

What skills do I need?

• Ability to work closely within a group requiring co-operation, inclusiveness, effective listening skills and being respectful and open to other people’s ideas and experiences.
• Willingness and ability to contribute to group discussions.
• Ability to speak openly and honestly about your experience of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination (and navigating the legal services/system if relevant) in a way that feels safe and comfortable to you and is sensitive to others in the group and apply these to discussions about the Project.
• Ability to think creatively and come up with ideas or suggestions.
• Ability to be organised and effectively manage your time (e.g. remember meeting times, meeting agreed deadlines).
• Ability to be reliable and complete agreed tasks, asking for help if needed.
• Willingness to provide feedback on the experience of taking part, and let us know if you are having any problems.
• A strong interest in influencing systems change by advocating for the needs of those experiencing or at risk of workplace sexual harassment or discrimination.

Prior experience of being involved in similar work is not essential, but may be useful, such as:

• Experience of drawing on your own personal lived experiences to influence, support or inform services or support.
• Experience of seeking and amplifying diverse views of others with lived experiences, including those that might be different to your own.

What will we offer you?

Circle Green recognises the value of including the voices of people with lived experience in our work and we want to make your involvement engaging and rewarding. All Lived Experience Advisors will be offered the following:

1. Financial recognition

• $70 per hour as financial recognition for sharing your insights and experience. It is anticipated that each meeting will be considered a 3-hour period, inclusive of time spent preparing in between meetings.

2. Wellbeing support

• We will work with the LEAP to make the meetings a safe place to show up and share.
• Access to Circle Green’s EAP services – including counselling and other support services.

3. Professional and personal development opportunities

• Invitation to attend events related to this project and other Circle Green projects.
• Access to relevant internal training opportunities.
• Opportunity to undertake training and development specific to the group.

What is the selection process?

There are also other ways of completing the application, such as a written responses via email, submitting a video or audio response to question in the application form. Please contact us to discuss alternative ways of submitting your application.

We will assess all applications against the bullet points listed under ‘What skills do I need?’. We would encourage you to draw on examples of when you have used these skills in your application.

To ensure a diverse range of perspectives, experiences and background are included, we will also be taking diversity of the overall group into consideration during the selection process.

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to an initial conversation with the Project Manager, Heidi Guldbaek, and another person from the team. This will be an opportunity for us to discuss together whether this role is right for you at this time and for you to ask any questions. We’ll also discuss any extra support or adjustments you might need to take part.

Additional information

• As a Lived Experience Advisor you will be contracted to provide advice and support to Circle Green in a consultant capacity. This means you will enter into an agreement with Circle Green outlining your responsibilities and confirming what we can offer you in relation to the project.
• This project will involve discussions of sensitive topics around experiences of sexual violence and discrimination. Whilst there will be support systems put in place, if you think you may find this triggering or distressing, we recommend you do not apply for this project.

We support applicants to be able to participate, including offering reasonable adjustments where required.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or would like to hear more about the project, please contact Heidi at [email protected] using the subject line: Lived Experience Advisor enquiry via EthicalJobs.